This invention relates to a battery pack operating in a hybrid electrical powertrain, or a pure electric system, for a vehicle. More specifically, the present invention relates to a system and method for recursively determining a state of charge in a battery system.
In today""s automotive market, there exist a variety of propulsion or drive technologies used to power vehicles. The technologies include internal combustion engines (ICEs), electric drive systems utilizing batteries and/or fuel cells as an energy or power source, and hybrid systems utilizing a combination of internal combustion engines and electric drive systems, as well as pure electric systems. The propulsion systems each have specific technological, financial, and performance advantages and disadvantages, depending on the state of energy prices, energy infrastructure developments, environmental laws, and government incentives.
The increasing demand to improve fuel economy and reduce emissions in present vehicles has led to the development of advanced hybrid vehicles, as well as pure electric vehicles. With regard to pure electrical vehicles, no ICE is required. Electric vehicles are classified as vehicles having only one energy source, typically a battery or a hydrogen-fed fuel cell. Hybrid vehicles are classified as vehicles having at least two separate energy sources, typically gasoline to feed an internal combustion engine and a battery linked to an electric traction motor. Hybrid vehicles, as compared to standard vehicles driven by an ICE, have improved fuel economy and reduced emissions. During varying driving conditions, hybrid vehicles will alternate between separate power sources, depending on the most efficient manner of operation of each power source. For example, during most operating conditions, a hybrid vehicle equipped with an ICE and an electric motor will shut down the ICE during a stopped or idle condition, allowing the electric motor to propel the vehicle and eventually restart the ICE, improving fuel economy for the hybrid vehicle.
Hybrid vehicles are broadly classified into series or parallel drivetrains, depending upon the configuration of the drivetrains. In a series drivetrain utilizing an ICE and an electric traction motor, only the electric motor drives the wheels of a vehicle. The ICE converts a fuel source to mechanical energy to turn a generator, which converts the mechanical energy to electrical energy to drive the electric motor. In a parallel hybrid drivetrain system, two power sources such as an ICE and an electric traction motor operate in parallel to propel a vehicle. Generally, a hybrid vehicle having a parallel drivetrain combines the power and range advantages of a conventional ICE with the efficiency and electrical regeneration capability of an electric motor to increase fuel economy and lower emissions, as compared with a traditional ICE vehicle. In addition, hybrid vehicles can incorporate both series and parallel paths. Further, hybrids are often described as being either charge depleting or charge sustaining with reference to a battery pack. Charge-depleting hybrids can be charged off the electrical grid; thus, these hybrids share many of the characteristics of purely electric vehicles. In contrast, the batteries in charge-sustaining hybrids receive all of their electrical charging from the ICE.
Battery packs having secondary/rechargeable batteries are an important component of hybrid vehicle systems, as they enable an electric motor/generator (MoGen) to store braking energy in the battery pack during regeneration and charging by the ICE. The MoGen utilizes the stored energy in the battery pack to propel or drive the vehicle when the ICE is not operating. During operation, the ICE will be turned on and off intermittently, according to driving conditions, causing the battery pack to be alternatively charged and discharged by the MoGen.
State of charge (SOC) is a commonly-used term in the art. A SOC corresponds to the stored charge available to do work relative to that which is available after the battery has been fully charged; this definition is made precise in the model formulation infra. SOC can be viewed as a thermodynamic quantity, enabling one to assess the potential energy of the system. The preferred embodiment of the present invention utilizes a battery pack. However, fuel cells may be used in the instant invention as well. Alternatively, a single battery with a requisite voltage may be used. As can be appreciated, the state of charge (SOC) of the battery pack in a vehicle system such as a hybrid vehicle system is important in relation to vehicle efficiency, emissions, and availability. For example, a vehicle operator or an onboard controller needs to know the condition of the battery pack for regulating the same.
It is known in the art to use a look up table (LUT) to regulate a battery pack having parameters pre-computed based on a standard vehicle or an experimental vehicle. A standard vehicle is a vehicle other than the vehicle, which a vehicle operator is handling. A difficulty with the prior art approaches is that they are either not vehicle specific, or lack a generalized approach to multiple parameter handling, thereby reducing the utility of the prior art systems. In addition, it is known in the art to use Coulomb counting to get a SOC value of a battery system. Coulomb counting is easily implemented, provided the current efficiency is known precisely for all times and conditions. Because this is not normally the case, the voltage signal can be used in a model that incorporates the voltage for determining the SOC.
The present invention provides methods and apparatus for determining resistance and open circuit potential of a battery system using a fully recursive least squares analysis, which is based on previous time-step data. This reduces the storage space and execution time required for implementing the methods in a computer program product. The recursive least squares approach may incorporate exponential forgetting. The methods comprise means to weight various data points over others. For example, it is often desired to give more weight to discharge current-potential points because discharge performance is better understood. The methods may comprise a skew test that performs a determination as to how much the data is skewed. If data is skewed to such an extent that significant statistical analyses is not possible, a different course of action may be preferred. Furthermore, the methods may comprise a traditional variance test. Both the skew test and the traditional variance test are fully recursive.
A first method is provided for determining state of charge (SOC) of a battery system based upon an equivalent circuit reflecting the battery system. A potential and resistance of the equivalent circuit are computed. The method uses a least squares regression means, and includes: providing a plurality of data points as a starting point based upon determinations including measurement or prior computation, wherein the determinations include a determination of a voltage of the battery system; weighting the plurality of data points; and computing values of the resistance and potential based upon weighted data points using recursive formulas, wherein only a state at a previous time is reflected respectively.
A second method is provided for determining a state of charge (SOC) in a battery system based on values of a resistance R and an open circuit voltage Voc, respectively. Both of the resistance R and the open circuit voltage Voc are derived using recursive expressions. The second method includes: creating a plurality of data points; establishing a linear relationship using the resistance R and the open circuit voltage Voc; applying least square analysis upon the linear relationship; and formulating a recursive relationship, wherein a first state at a backward time increment solely determines a second state after the backward time increment.
A vehicle powertrain control system is provided, which includes: a battery pack; a power inverter coupled to the battery pack; a controller controlling the power inverter, the controller monitoring a state of charge (SOC) of the battery pack; and a program product for computing a resistance and an open circuit voltage both being functionally related to the SOC, the program product being associated to the controller.
These and other features and advantages of the invention will be more fully understood from the following description of certain specific embodiments of the invention taken together with the accompanying drawings.